Christopher Nolan explains why 'Dark Knight Rises' will be his last Batman film

In a recent interview, Christopher Nolan, director of the three most recent Batman films: Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), stated that he is not going to make Batman films anymore.

Nolan’s apparent reason not to continue with the more than successful franchise is the technical pressure he feels. He told an audience recently, according to Deadline, that he “didn’t have any interest in being the research department for an electronics company.”

His passion is film and filmmaking. FILM. Not digital. Hollywood is turning over to digital but it’s expensive and still in the works. Nobody would blame Nolan for taking that stand and keeping faithful to film.

However, his producer (and wife) Emma Thomas told SFX Magazine in an interview to be released June 27, that it would be really hard for Nolan to get excited about Batman all over again.

“I just cannot imagine that he would get that excited about another version of the same thing. The great thing about a trilogy is that it feels like you’ve got a beginning, a middle and an end. It’s like an extended version of a regular film. Once you get into a fourth film then it’s just episodic…” she told SFX Magazine.

This sounds like a more believable reason to stop making these awesome films. Although there is more than plenty of material to pull from the comics, it will take serious thinking and research to come up with a killer story, not to mention the actor to fit in the villain role.

Besides, Thomas is not wrong about the episodic effect a fourth film would bring. Just take a look at Pirates. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was a total hit introducing a different type of action film and resuscitating Johnny Depp’s talent. The second one, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, I admit, they took the monstrosity of the Dutchman’s crew a little too far but still worked. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End really hit the spot and held nothing back. But the fourth (and we hope last) installment, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, was entertaining, had great potential, story and talent-wise. But somehow it failed to deliver the expected impact, especially after its predecessor’s established standards.

At the same time, if I had to spend the next 10 years of my life making Batman films, I probably will not find any happiness in my life when I’m done and everything would seem so dull and boring after that. But then again I haven’t made a movie and would not even begin to understand the burden of doing so. It took this couple about three years to make each movie. You could probably watch them all in one day. So all I have to say to Chris Nolan and his lovely wife Emma Thomas is: THANK YOU.

Let’s just hope now nobody comes and tries to make another Batman film with a different director, which, in part, is the cause of the failure of the last Pirates movie.